General Conference

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Notable quotes:

Brother Brough spoke during his 2018 general conference address about how to face "hard things":

"We can always rejoice when we keep the commandments.”

"Sometimes the Lord asks us to do a hard thing, and sometimes our challenges are created by our own or others' agency."

"In President Russell M. Nelson's worldwide devotional for youth, he requested some hard things of the youth. President Nelson said: 'My fifth invitation is for you to stand out; be different from the world. ... The Lord needs you to look like, sound like, act like and dress like a true disciple of Jesus Christ.' That can be a hard thing, yet I know you can do it — with joy."

Talk summary:

Sometimes individuals are required to face hard things. "Frequently, our first reaction to hard things is 'Why me?' Asking why, however, never takes away the hard thing. The Lord requires that we overcome challenges, and He has indicated 'that all these things shall give (us) experience, and shall be for (our good)' (Doctrine and Covenants 122:7)."

Even the Savior faced hard things. “The world … shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men” (1 Nephi 19:9).

“Because of that loving kindness, Jesus Christ suffered the Atonement. As a result, He says to each one of us, ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world,’ (John 16:33). Because of Christ, we too can overcome the world.”

Promised blessings:

Recalling the words of Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who said that his experience with leukemia had blessed him with "perspective about the great realities of eternity," Brother Brough suggested two things to help individuals triumph over hard times with "glimpses of eternity."

Forgive others

Give ourselves to Heavenly Father

Speaker snapshot:

Brother M. Joseph Brough was sustained as the second counselor in the Young Men general presidency on April 4, 2015.

Brother Brough was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Dec. 11, 1963, the first of Monte J. and Ada Lanette Brough’s seven children.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in finance and a master’s of business administration from the University of Utah. He is an owner and vice president of Rotational Molding of Utah, a business headquartered in Brigham City, Utah.

His father, Elder Monte J. Brough, an emeritus General Authority, died while Brother Brough was serving as a mission president in Guatemala.